Does each gesture really make a difference? Can music and dance be weapons of peace? In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, director Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it, heading for self-destruction. After several years, traveling over five continents, Iara encountered growing numbers of people who committed their lives to promoting change. This is their story. From IRAN, where graffiti and rap became tools in fighting government repression, to BURMA, where monks acting in the tradition of Gandhi take on a dictatorship, moving on to BRAZIL, where musicians reach out to slum kids and transform guns into guitars, and ending in PALESTINIAN refugee camps in LEBANON, where photography, music, and film have given a voice to those rarely heard, CULTURES OF RESISTANCE explores how art and creativity can be ammunition in the battle for peace and justice.

Like many leftists eager to achieve the cultural deification of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, Lee claims to support nonviolence. She released a statement to accompany the film in which she stated that nonviolence was “the only way to break the cycles of militarism and oppression.”

Problems with Lee’s supposed pacifism emerge when researching the people and groups actually profiled in “Cultures of Resistance.” Many certainly are as Lee describes – artists and activists who are largely benign. However, other groups Lee showcases have a peculiar disposition toward “peace.”

For example, Katibe 5 is a Beirut-based rap group Lee describes as carrying on “a tradition of socially conscious rap.” Three of the five MCs in the group have chosen terrorist-themed names: C-4, Molotov, and “the Butcher.” Such a fetish for violence is understandable given the group’s idolizing of Marxists like Frantz Fanon and Che Guevara. Molo, the leader of the team stated his revolutionary politics openly: “Peace means politics, politics means negotiations, negotiations are meant to sustain negotiations and not bring a solution. So I say, fuck negotiations, fuck politics and fuck peace.”

While Katibe 5 may only be fanning the flames of destruction, others in Lee and Gund’s agitprop are actually doing real damage. Breaking with her theme of political artists, Lee devotes one of the segments of “Cultures of Resistance” to Jeff Halper, the Israel-based spokesman for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM.) Halper has called for the obliteration of Israel, declaring, “The ‘two-state’ solution envisioned by all Israeli governments since 1967 … is simply unacceptable.” Halper instead advocates for a “one-state” solution. Since 2008, Halper has also been an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement (FGM.) Both the ISM and the FGM have received grants from Lee and Gund’s Caipirinha Foundation, totaling $25,000 through 2009.

I've long noticed how the 'peace' people like to use military vocabulary, and those groovy peaceniks bill and hillary created a "war room" in the WH to wage political warfare against their enemies and cover for their corruption.

Steve Chavez

Their hypocrisy is the reason I became an activist myself and now make it my mission to expose that hypocrisy, their tactics, and their leaders.

In the 80', "peace and Human Rights" groups were raising money to aid the Marxist FMLN rebels in El Salvador while at the same time they were screaming "No Contra Aid" and supporting Communist Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas. University students were recruited to "help the people" on Nicaragua with Construction Brigades. Aid was raised mostly in churches which means Marxists/Communists were raising aid in the home of the Son of God to aid an ideology that says "There is no god!"

The Communist Party USA's front group, the U.S. Peace Council, had affiliates in every state but they all were affiliates of the WORLD PEACE COUNCIL run by the Soviet KGB! If you google "Barack Obama Sundial 1983" it will reveal that he wrote an article on Soviet KGB/CPUSA front groups which he supported. So, he admitted he sought out "Marxist professors" and this article proves he also sought out the most radical students on campus! In Robert Spencer's book, Stealth Jihad, he quoted one of Obama's professors as saying "We sought out other Marxist-Leninists." (NOT SOCIALISTS, which is just a PC term really meaning Communists so stop saying his "Socialist ideas" like we're hurting someones feelings!")

READ CAREFULLY! Those students and dupes of the 80's KGB/CPUSA are the leaders of today which includes Obama and Hillary and many more in their "Circle of Communists!" The main CPUSA "peace" front today is United for Peace and Justice, and just like the 80's Peace Council's, United hides the fact that they are led by members of the Communist Party USA and spawn groups like Code Pink and thousands others who aid every enemy of the United States including Hamas and Hezbollah, both terrorists groups who are surely use "peace" as a weapon!

jbtrevor

Thanks for again pointing out how the ''peaceful'' left is anything but peaceful.

StephenD

Do not call them violent or they will kill you!
How much traction can these dopes continue to generate? They honor the likes of Howard Zinn, Che Guevara, and so many others that flat out lie about their real agenda. There isn't one of them that actually believe in the value of Humanity. They all think that humans are expendable. The END is the goal of having the few elites dictate to the balance. This is TOTALITARIANISM and but whatever MEANS they seek to get there. That includes the use of violence. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Steve Chavez

Have you ever tried to reason with one at a protest? I do this often and the leaders quickly rush away any of the sheep that I am talking to for fear they could be exposed to real peace people who do not know their leaders of the protest.

I've been physically attacked, chased after with a hammer, cornered, screamed at, fingers galore, profanities, and all by "peace" people.

So I made this up just for them: "If you can't even create peace with me, how do you expect to create peace among people who are shooting at each other?"

Fred Dawes

listen to savage nation

http://www.boycottscotland.com Infidel 4 Ever

Every see an "anti-war" march demonstrate AGAINST osama bin laden or al qada?

No?

Ever wonder WHY?

I wish for the islamofascist regime of iran what it calls for the US and Israel.

jasonz

im for peace, but not at the cost of my life and my culture. these so called promotors pf peace are wannabe dictators. therefore they know no other way except violence. its time we stop being nice to thoes who with to rule us as slaves. tolerance leads to weakness…weakness leads to death. its a simple truth. only the strong survive. nonviolence does not and will not work in situations. like this. when christians were fed to the lions they went willingly god didnt save them and neither did non violence. in the end all you gor were soem well fed lions.

Lollith66

I notice this quote on the website you sited……..Islam Taught the World the Best of What the World Knows Today [Quote of the Day – 77]….What a fecking joke, are you kidding, what world do you live in….what drugs do you take?….Idiot!